Screaming Penguin

Students can be suspended for a lot of odd reasons these days — wearing "objectionable" T-shirts, cross-dressing for prom, planning elaborate senior pranks — but a principal at a Catholic high school in Sparta, New Jersey, has added another offense to the list: having a blog. The Reverend Kieran McHugh stunned the 900 students of the private Pope John XXIII Regional High School at a recent assembly when he told them that, effective immediately, they would have to dismantle their personal pages on sites such as MySpace.com and Xanga.com and any other blogs, or face suspension. McHugh said he was taking the unusual measure to protect students from online sexual predators who may be lurking in cyberspace looking for personal information on children, including their pictures, diaries and gossip, according to a report in New Jersey's The Daily Record newspaper. Many of the students were reportedly outraged at the school's attempt to regulate their home lives. According to the Record, a majority of them protested the new rule, arguing that it violated their free-speech rights and that the school should have no say on what they do at home. "I don't see this as censorship," McHugh told the Record. "I believe we are teaching common civility, courtesy and respect." Popular community sites such as Xanga and MySpace got the school administration's attention when it learned that a student had communicated online with someone who lied about their identity, age and where they lived, though McHugh would not elaborate on the specifics of the case.